so overrated. we killed more japs with firebombs and far more Vietnamese with conventional bombs.. if we hadn't screwed up their collective psychies forever we would have no godzilla.. think about it. everybody won.

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If you had the choice to immediately end a war without losing an American soldier as opposed to slugging it out for another two years at the cost of tens of thousands of American lives, what would you choose?

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That's a false choice. Japan was at the end of its rope. It was holding onto the slim hope that the Soviet Union, then a neutral in the Pacific portion of World War II, would be able to broker a face-saving peace with the U.S. Then, as per the Potsdam agreement, the Soviets entered the war against Japan three months after V-E Day. Now Japan was truly alone in the world with all the major powers arrayed against it. Minutes of Japanese cabinet meetings reveal that they knew it was as good as over as soon as the Soviets entered the war. In a matter of days the Red Army steamrolled over Japan's Kwantung Army, handing Japan its greatest defeat on land. The first atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima a few days before the Soviets were due to enter the war and the second one on Nagasaki was literally on the same day the Soviets declared war on Japan. Truman knew that the U.S.S.R. was going to be declaring war on Japan very soon as there was a 3-month time limit on it as was agreed at Potsdam. So there was zero danger of the U.S. having to "slug it out for another two years" with an invasion of the Japanese home islands. Face it, Truman dropped the a-bombs on Japan to intimidate the Soviets and try to get Japan to sue for peace before the Soviets ended up occupying the northern half of Japan. It had nothing whatsoever to do with preventing the need to invade Japan's home islands as Truman already realized that wouldn't be necessary to knock Japan out of the war. That's just the excuse the U.S. tries to use to make Americans feel better about vaporizing over a hundred thousand people in an instant.

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I've gone around and around with my understanding of this for years. On one hand, we used firepower we never would've even contemplated using on Europe, the same way we locked up individuals and confiscated the businesses and property of AMERICAN citizens of Japanese but NOT Italian or German descent. On the other hand, everyone who's ever evaluated the way the Japanese fought says also unlike the Italians and Germans, THEY would've continued to the last person standing, and supposedly had to be devastated before they would ever concede.

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The Japanese knew it was over as soon as the Soviets entered the war against them as minutes from their cabinet meetings have revealed. And Truman knew the deadline for the Soviets to enter the war, three months after V-E Day, and their declaration of war occurred almost three months to the day after V-E Day. Truman knew before the Enola Gay was taking off to bomb Hiroshima that the Soviets would be joining the war against Japan literally any day now. And when the second one was dropped on Nagasaki it was the very same day the Soviets renounced their neutrality treaty with Japan and entered the war against them. Truman made his decision not for the reason most Americans like to claim, that it was the only alternative to avoid having to invade the Japanese home islands, but rather to intimidate the Soviets with American technology and to try to get Japan to sue for peace before the Soviets ended up with the northern half of Japan. He knew the U.S. wouldn't have to invade the home islands.

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It didn't end the war. The Soviet Union entering the war against Japan did that. Truman knew the Soviets were about to enter the war against Japan because Stalin had agreed at Potsdam to declare war on Japan no later than 3 months after V-E Day. By early August 1945 they were coming down to the deadline for when the Soviets were to enter the war. The outcome was not in doubt and Truman knew the U.S. was not going to have to launch an invasion of the Japanese home islands. He decided to nuke them anyway so as to frighten the Soviets and to hopefully force Japan to sue for peace before the Soviets ended up with the northern half of Japan. So it isn't like the only two choices were 1. drop the a-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or 2. have the U.S. military invade the Japanese home islands. There was a choice # 3, wait a couple of weeks, let the Soviets enter the war as per their agreement and THEN see what happens. What would have happened is that Japan would have surrendered anyway without the enormous loss of life from the atom bombings because as Japanese cabinet meeting minutes reveal they knew as soon as the Soviets entered the war that they may as well surrender, it was as good as over. But if Truman had waited then Stalin would have just had to take his word for it that the U.S. had a superweapon...

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No it was not. Perhaps if the only alternative was invading the Japanese home islands which would have cost more Japanese and American lives than Hiroshima and Nagasaki then it would have been justified as the lesser of two evils. Unfortunately for those who think America can do no wrong however that wasn't the only alternative. And Truman knew it.